The present invention relates to a zebra blind, especially to a looped zebra blind with height compensation and a height compensation method of the same. The looped zebra-stripe blind includes an upper rod, a looped fabric and a lower rod. The looped fabric consists of a zebra-stripe blind part and a compensation part for height compensation connected to each other to form a loop wound around the upper rod and the lower rod. The loop has a front fabric and a rear fabric with the same height and disposed correspondingly to each other. Thereby the height of the front/rear fabric matches up to the preset height of certain area of a window that is going to be covered after the height compensation. The window is covered completely.
A zebra-stripe blind is a kind of window covering. The zebra blinds includes a zebra-striped fabric having alternate see-through parts and opaque parts used in combination with other components such as loading mechanism so as to form a front fabric and a rear fabric moved in relation to each other. For example, a roller type zebra blind revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,592 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,156 includes at least one roller in an upper track (upper frame) used to load a zebra-striped fabric. Refer to US Pat. App. No. 20120000617 and EP 11 171 809.4, a sliding panel type zebra blind including at least one upper track and a plurality of carrier tracks that are slidably extended or folded in parallel. The carrier tracks are disposed under the upper track and each carrier track is loaded with a zebra-striped fabric. While in use, users can move the front fabric and the rear fabric by operation mechanism such as chain disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,592 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,156 or by their hands such as looped zebra blind disclosed in US2012/0000617 being pulled manually. The overlapped content between the opaque parts and the see through parts can be adjusted by the front fabric and the rear fabric being moved in relation to each other. For example, a see-through state is formed when the see-through parts of the front/rear fabric are completely corresponding to and overlapped with each other. On the other hand, a shaded state is formed once the see-through parts and the opaque parts of the front/rear fabric are completely corresponding to and overlapped with each other. When only a part of the see-through parts and the opaque parts of the front/the rear fabric are corresponding to and overlapped with each other to form different degrees of transparency or opacity. Thereby transparency of the zebra blind is able to be adjusted.
Moreover, the zebra blind of the present invention includes a real zebra blind with patterns looks like strips of zebra and blinds with patterns similar to zebra stripes and the like. Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,592, U.S. Pat. No. 726,715, US2012/0000617, and DE 20 2007 008111 U1, the zebra blind revealed is formed by a plurality of zebra stripe units arranged vertically and periodically. Each zebra stripe unit (the height is represented by Hu) includes a see through part (whose height is represented by Hs) and an opaque part (whose height is represented by Hb) adjacent to each other. The height Hb of the opaque part is larger than the height Hs of the see through part (Hb>Hs). In a common zebra blind, the Hb=7.5 cm and Hs=5 cm. As to blinds with similar patterns revealed in GB2,253,000 or FR 2 195 749A1, the blinds are nor formed by zebra stripe units arranged periodically and vertically, as shown in FIG. 1 and Page 2 in specification of GB2,253,000. The blind in GB2,253,000 is not having the same structure as the zebra fabric of the present invention and is considered as the like. Yet these two types can both be considered as zebra fabric in the present invention.
In the field of blinds/curtains, there are many techniques related to zebra-stripe fabric available now. According to the operation way or the state of use, the blinds are divided into two main types with details in followings.
The first is a roller-type zebra blind, as shown in JP1995-189,573, U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,592, U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,156, U.S. Pat. No. 2,142,822, U.S. Pat. No. 2,280,358, U.S. Pat. No. 2,384,377, U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,371, U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,940, U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,156, U.S. Pat. No. 7,438,115, US2009/0229768, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,806,160. The zebra-stripe fabric used in the roller-type zebra blind is not a loop. Take the zebra blind revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,156 as an example. The two ends of the zebra-strip fabric are respectively form a winding rod end (winding rod 114 in FIG. 5) and a fixing piece end (fixing piece 121 and seating groove 120-1 in FIG. 5). A lift and roll mechanism (as adjusting cord/lift mechanism 116 in figures) is used to lift or lower the zebra-stripe fabric. While in use, the zebra-stripe fabric (front and rear fabric) is driven by the rotating winding rod end to move upward or downward. Thus the front fabric and the rear fabric are moved relatively to each other so as to adjust the overlapping between see-through parts and opaque parts of the front fabric and the rear fabric.
The second type is looped type zebra blind, as disclosed in US2012/0000617, GB2,253,000, DE 20 2007 008111 U1, FR 2 195 749A1, NL 7 114 389 A, EP 11 171 809.4, and WO 2007/085533 (PCT/EP2007/050265). The looped type includes two groups-full-looped group and semi-looped group. In US2012/0000617, DE 20 2007 008111 U1, and EP 11 171 809.4, the zebra-stripe fabric used is wound around an upper rod and a lower rod to form an endless loop. As to the semi-looped zebra-stripe fabric disclosed in GB2,253,000 and WO 2007/085533 (PCT/EP2007/050265), the zebra-stripe fabric is also wound around an upper rod and a lower rod but the two ends of the zebra-stripe fabric are mounted into a keyway or a groove on a top surface of the upper rod. The keyway is represented by number 7 in FIG. 1 of GB2,253,000 while the groove is represented by number 18 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 1A of WO 2007/085533.
Compared with the roller type, the looped type zebra-stripe blind has a simpler structure with regard to structure design and/or number of components used. The operation way, usage and components of the roller type blinds have been fixed and restricted. The looped type zebra-stripe blinds have more variety of uses and operation ways available. Take the looped zebra blind revealed in EP 11 171 809.4 as an example. This zebra blind is not only used as a panel of sliding panels (as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 9) but also used in combination with a hook and a curtain rod to form a curtain (as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11). The looped type zebra blinds have more applications and higher efficiency. It can be used not only as a blind but also as a room-separating device.
However, the looped type zebra blinds have a significant shortcoming while in use. The looped type zebra blind is formed by a loop of zebra-stripe fabric having see-through parts and opaque parts with preset height and arranged in an alternating manner. For example, the height of the see-through part is 5 cm (Hs=5 cm) while the height of the opaque part is 7.5 cm (Hb=7.5 cm). One see-through part and the adjacent opaque part form a basic blind unit (zebra stripe unit) whose height is represented by Hu. Thus Hu=Hs+Hb=5 cm+7.5 cm=12.5 cm. The looped zebra-stripe fabric is used in combination with other components such as loading mechanism or operation mechanism to form a whole zebra blind disposed on an outer edge or inner edge of a window frame according to design requirements. Thus the looped zebra-stripe fabric covers a preset covered area of the window correspondingly. The height of the preset covered area of the window is represented by Hw. Generally, Hw is a bit smaller than the total height of the window. The preset height of the preset covered area Hw is obtained by the height of other components of the whole zebra-stripe blind such as upper track or lower tract being deducted from the total height of the window. When the zebra-stripe blind is disposed on an inner edge of the window frame as shown in FIG. 1, the preset height Hw is given by the height of other components of the zebra-stripe blind such as track or an upper rod (501, 50 in FIG. 1) and/or a bottom rod (60 in FIG. 1) being deducted from the original height of the window. The original height of the window in user's house is predetermined and the height of other components of the zebra-stripe blind is also preset. Thus the preset height Hw is also able to be considered as predetermined.
The looped zebra-striped fabric of the blind is formed by a plurality of basic blind units (Hu) mentioned above. When the height Hu of the blind unit is 12.5 cm, the total length of the looped zebra-striped fabric should be a multiple of the height of the height Hu (12.5 cm) of the blind unit. For example, a looped zebra-striped blind is formed by a number of N0 (N0=40) blind units. Thus total length of the looped zebra-striped fabric, represented by L0, is 500 cm. (L0=Hu×N0=12.5 cm×40=500 cm). Due to the looped fabric wound around an upper rod and a lower rod, a front fabric and a rear fabric connected to each other and having the same height Hf/r are formed. Without considering the length of the looped zebra-striped fabric in contact and wound around the upper rod and the lower rod (the diameter of the upper rod/lower rod is quite small), the height Hf/r of the front and the rear fabric is nearly a half of the total length L0 (500 cm) of the looped zebra-striped fabric. Hf/r=L0÷2=500 cm÷2=250 cm. Thus the preset height Hw is limited and equal to Hf/r (250 cm). In practice, it is impossible that the preset height Hw of the window of the user's house is just the same as the height Hf/r of the front and the rear fabric given by the above calculation (250 cm). That means Hw doesn't match up to a half length of a multiple of the height Hu (12.5 cm) of the blind unit. For example, the preset height Hw is 245 cm (Hw=245 cm). When the Hf/r is 250 cm, there is an extra length of 5 cm and a part (the extra length) of the looped zebra-striped fabric will lay down on the lower edge of the window or on the ground. This affects the appearance of the front/rear fabric or the whole zebra-stripe blind. In order to prevent the above problem, the total length of the looped zebra-striped fabric is shortened. For example, the looped zebra-striped fabric is formed by a number of N0−1 blind units. Thus total length of the looped zebra-striped fabric L0 is 487.5 cm (L0=Hu×(N0−1)=12.5 cm×(40−1)=487.5 cm). Thus Hf/r=L0÷2=487.5 cm÷2=243.75 cm. Yet Hf/r is 1.25 cm shorter than the preset height Hw=245 cm. That means the front/rear fabric is unable to match up to the preset height and cover the preset covered area completely. There is an uncovered area with the height of 1.25 cm formed on the bottom of the window. This causes negative effects on the appearance of the front/rear fabric or the whole zebra-stripe blind.
Moreover, during manufacturing of the looped type zebra-striped fabric, especially full-looped/endless looped type revealed in US2012/0000617, DE 20 2007 008111 U1, and EP 11 171 809.4, the looped type zebra-striped fabric is usually formed by an even-number multiple of the blind units (with the height Hu) for increasing the durability and lifetime and providing better opacity/shading adjustment. Thereby the height Hf/r of the front/rear fabric is a whole-number multiple of the height Hu (12.5 cm) of the blind unit. For example, when the height Hu of the blind unit is 12.5 cm (Hs5 cm+Hb7.5 cm=Hu12.5 cm), the total length L0 of the looped type zebra-striped fabric is set as an even-number multiple of the height Hu of the blind unit. L0=Hu×N0. N0 is an even-number such as 40, 38, 36, etc. Without considering the length of the looped type zebra-striped fabric wound around the upper rod and the lower rod (the diameter of the upper rod and the lower rod is quite small), the height Hf/r of the front/rear fabric is about a half of the total length L0 of the looped type zebra-striped fabric. Hf/r=L0÷2=(Hu×N0)÷2. Due to that N0 is an even-number such as 40, 38, 36, etc, the height Hf/r of the front/rear fabric is a whole-number multiple of the height Hu of the blind unit (12.5 cm).
Thus it is learned that during the manufacturing and uses of the looped type zebra-stripe shade/blind revealed in DE 20 2007 008111 U1, EP 11 171 809.4, GB2,253,000, or WO 2007/085533 (PCT/EP2007/050265), the problem of the height of the front/rear fabric unable to match up to the preset height of the preset covered area will occur. This causes trouble and inconvenience during manufacturing and in use. Thus the applications of the looped type zebra-stripe shade are restricted.
Furthermore, the sliding panel is a kind of conventional blind. Take a sliding panel 5 shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 as an example. The sliding panel 5 includes a rail 501, a plurality of carrier tracks 502 (only one carrier track in FIG. 1) disposed under the rail 501 and a plurality of panels 503 each of which is attached to and hanging on one carrier track 502 (only one panel in FIG. 1). Two separated connectors 504 are arranged at a top surface of each carrier track 502 and each connector 504 is connected to a runner 505 such as roller. By the connector 504 passing through an opening 507 of a channel 506 on the bottom of the rail 501, the runner 505 slides in the channel 506 of the rail 501. Thus each carrier track 502 and the panel thereof 503 is sliding horizontally to be extended gradually for shading the window. Or the carrier tracks 502 and the panel thereof 503 are retracted and overlapped to allow the window to be seen.
In addition, the curtain is a conventional design. Take a curtain 6 shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 as an example. The curtain 6 consists of a rail 601, at least one curtain fabric 602 and at least two hooks 603, and a curtain rod 604. The curtain fabric 602 is arranged adjacent to the rail 601. By the hooks 603, the rail 601 and the curtain fabric 602 is hooked on the curtain rod 604 on top of the window.